The invention relates to a holding device for a drinks container, such as, for example, a cup, a beaker or a drinks can, which is provided for installation in a motor vehicle. The holding device has a sliding guide element, in which a carriage is displaceably guided from an inserted position to a pulled-out position. In the pulled-out position, a drinks container can be placed on the carriage.
Moreover, the holding device has a holding element that is, for example, ring-shaped, which is arranged on the carriage and has an insertion opening for the insertion of the drinks container. The holding element is connected to the carriage by means of a four-lever mechanism, one lever of the four-lever mechanism being formed by the holding element and an opposite lever of the four-lever mechanism being formed by the carriage. The four-lever mechanism enables the holding element to move from a lowered position in which it rests flat on the carriage to a position in which it is raised above the carriage. In the lowered position of the holding element, the carriage and the holding element are flat and can thus be pushed into a flat housing so as to save space. In the raised position, the holding element, into the insertion opening of which the drinks container can be inserted, is spaced vertically from the carriage on which the drinks container can be placed, so that the holding element surrounds an inserted drinks container at a height that provides a secure position for the drinks container.
The holding element is raised by means of an erecting spring element that engages the four-lever mechanism and urges the holding element to the raised position. The holding element is raised automatically upon displacement of the carriage to the pulled-out position. In order to lower the holding element onto the carriage upon displacement to the inserted position and thus to be able to push the carriage together with the holding element, for example, into a flat housing, the holding device according to the invention has a control lever which is mounted pivotally on the carriage and engages one lever of the four-lever mechanism. Upon displacement of the carriage from the pulled-out position to the inserted position, the control lever is pressed down and thus moves the holding element downwards against the force of the erecting spring element into the lowered position on the carriage. The control lever can be pressed down, for example, by an upper edge of an opening, through which the carriage is inserted, for example, into a housing. A guide track arrangement, for example, can also be provided, which presses the control lever downwards upon displacement of the carriage to the inserted position.
Accordingly, it is an object of present invention to provide a holding device for a drinks container which has a holding element secured in the position it is raised above the carriage and can not be pressed down unintentionally.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of present invention resides, briefly stated, in a holding device for a drinks container, which has a sliding guide element, a carriage displaceably guided by the sliding guide element in a manner of a drawer from an inserted position to a pulled-out position so that a drinks container can be placed on the carriage in the pulled-out position, a holding element arranged on the carriage and having an insertion opening for insertion of a drinks container, the holding element and the carriage being connected with one another by a four-lever mechanism, the carriage forming one lever of the four-lever mechanism and the holding element forming an opposite lever of the four-lever mechanism, the four-lever mechanism movably guiding the holding element and the carriage from a lower position to a raised position, and a control lever which is mounted pivotably on the carriage and engages one lever of the four-lever mechanism, the control lever being pressed down upon displacement of the carriage from the pulled-out position to the inserted position, thus moving the holding element from the raised position to the lowered position, at least one of two elements selected from the group consisting of the four-lever mechanism and the control lever forming a safety catch that prevents the holding element in the raised position from being pressed downwards.
In order to secure the holding element in the raised position, the four-lever mechanism and/or the control lever of the holding device according to the invention are in the form of a safety catch which automatically locks the holding element in the raised position against being pressed down. It is thus not possible for the holding element to be pressed down onto the carriage from the raised position; instead, in order to lower the holding element, the carriage must be pushed into the inserted position, as a result of which the control lever moves the holding element downwards into the lowered position on the carriage. The locking of the holding element in the raised position prevents the holding element from being pressed down unintentionally and prevents associated inadequate holding of an inserted drinks container. The construction according to the invention of the four-lever mechanism and/or of the control lever in the form of a safety catch has the advantage that the locking of the holding element in the raised position against being pressed down is effected automatically upon displacement of the carriage to the pulled-out position. Manual locking of the holding element in the raised position is thus unnecessary, and it is not possible to forget or, owing to laziness, to omit to lock the holding element in the raised position against being pressed down. Moreover, the locking action is cancelled automatically by displacement of the carriage to the inserted position; the holding element therefore does not have to be unlocked in order to lower it onto the carriage. In the holding device according to the invention, the lowering of the holding element onto the carriage is effected exclusively by displacement of the carriage to the inserted position and cannot be obtained by pressure on the holding element.
In an embodiment of the invention, the holding device has a guide track arrangement for the control lever, which presses the control lever downwards upon displacement of the carriage from the pulled-out position to the inserted position. The guide track arrangement enables the lowering of the holding element onto the carriage to be derived in simple manner from the displacement movement of the carriage to the inserted position.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the carriage on which the drinks container can be placed when in the pulled-out position is in the form of a drip tray in order to catch any liquid that might spill out of a drinks container inserted therein.
In order to make the four-lever mechanism and/or the control lever in the form of a safety catch, in an embodiment of the invention one lever of the four-lever mechanism that connects the holding element to the carriage is provided with a guideway. Lying in the guideway is a guide element of the control lever, for example a guide pin projecting from the side of the control lever, and the control lever is guided displaceably in the guideway of one lever of the four-lever mechanism. An end portion of the guideway, in which the guide element of the control lever is located when the holding element is raised, extends approximately radially to a pivot axis of the lever. As a result of the path of the guideway, when the holding element is in the raised position it is not possible to pivot the lever by a force engaging it or by a moment, for example by pressing the holding element down, since the guide element of the control lever, which, in the raised position of the holding element, is located in the end portion of the guideway extending radially to the pivot axis of the lever, prevents such a pivotal movement of the lever. In order to pivot the lever, it is necessary to pivot the control lever, which presses the lever of the four-lever mechanism down.
In a development of the invention, the holding device has an erecting spring element which engages a lever of the four-lever mechanism remote from the control lever and urges it upward into an upright position. That erecting spring element effects the raising of the holding element from the carriage, upon displacement of the carriage to the pulled-out position, at an end of the holding element remote from the control lever.
In a preferred embodiment, the holding device has an opening spring element that displaces the carriage from the inserted position to the pulled-out position. This has the advantage that the displacement of the carriage to the pulled-out position is effected automatically. Since the raising of the holding element is also effected by the erecting spring element, the displacement of the carriage to the pulled-out position and the raising of the holding element have an easy automatic action. In order to displace the carriage to the inserted position, the carriage is displaced against the force of the opening spring element, the lowering movement of the holding element onto the carriage being derived from the displacement of the carriage. In the inserted position, the carriage is held by a releasable locking device.